Chapter 34 #2
The flush of her arousal deepened in her cheeks. Skin to scales. He was trying to prove his point to her, and heavens, her traitorous body adored it. It felt so good that her pussy spasmed and clamped with need.
Carwyn panted against his chest when his paws found a place to settle. One gripped her arse while the other palmed her side, just below the band that separated the top half of her yellow dress from its flowy skirt. If he could easily fit under it, she was sure he would be grasping a breast.
He slid his wing down to uncover her head and offer her muted morning sunlight, and her gaze lifted to his face. The entire front of her dress was crumpled around his arms, ensuring all of her but her chest pressed against his body.
Their stomachs, pelvises, thighs, and even their shins. The midpoint of his tail had curled around one of her feet in a thick coil of muscle, possessive and doting all at once.
She had to resist the urge to bite down on her lower lip at how wide his slitted pupils were as he stared at her.
Then he leaned forward and brushed the end of his broad snout against her temple in an affectionate nuzzle.
His breaths were soft and controlled, but hot against her.
They billowed curls that had fallen from her braid.
He was showing her that they could embrace in the way she sought, that there didn’t need to be a barrier between them to achieve it.
And it was perfect.
Her skin sang when she lifted a leg slightly and the texture of his scales rubbed over her. Her hands were against his chest, feeling his strong, pounding heartbeat. His warmth was unfiltered, his scent coming straight off his flesh and filling her senses.
Even though she’d been tricked – she’d closed her eyes with him tiny and curled into a ball for sleep, when he’d likely always been planning to do this – she couldn’t muster up any anger.
Her entire being, her very soul, wanted to bask in it, especially when she felt nothing but the maelstrom of her own emotions churning behind her sternum.
Just like in his cave where she’d forcibly separated them to drive a wedge between them.
“Every night you are going to let me hold you like this,” he grated, burying his snout against the top of her hair to breathe her in with deep, heavy sniffs. “And I hope you wake this aroused every time.”
“It’s not going to change my mind,” she whispered.
His palm on her backside tightened until little points dug into her soft flesh. “I sincerely don’t care right now, Carwyn.”
When he shoved her hips against his, a strange bulge beneath his flesh prodded her abdomen. Her flush grew hotter at the fact that his erection was pressing into her, and his words made her heart flutter shyly.
It was as if he cared less about convincing her and more about finally embracing her the way he wanted, and it stole a little piece of her.
She snuggled into him, wishing they could remain like this for all eternity. Her nails clawed into his back possessively as she clenched her eyes against the pang that bored into her like a cruel thorn. It poisoned this.
I want to keep him.
It’d be cruel if after all this – his sweetness he was willing to finally share – she didn’t get to.
It’s not fair... I should be allowed to love freely. She tried to hold back the welling of tears, to hide how much this ached. I should be allowed to ask for more when I want it.
Her nails dug harder. This should be enough, but it’s not. Nothing he does will change my mind. Will change me.
He was trying so hard when it was utterly pointless.
I cannot have a child with my abilities. It’s impossible. Her curse made it unviable. Made her infertile. And I want one.
She wanted the choice, the control.
Getting rid of my unwanted powers is the only way to make it possible. It was the solution. And if it’s not possible... If I cannot be rid of just them, he won’t stay with me if I lock away my magic entirely. His promises only go so far.
His affection, his fondness, his want to bond with her...
it was conditional on the fact that he wouldn’t accept someone who would die hundreds of years before him.
Hers was conditional on the fact that she wanted a child of her own.
She’d tried to accept a life without that choice, but she’d never been able to.
And she hated how she’d stared at her sister Kaeylyn in envy that she could continue their family’s bloodline, when they’d both been born for the same reason. She was jealous that Aldora could but refused to be with any man – Carwyn thought she’d even reject a doting dragon as a mate.
Valerie was meant to wear this with her; her choice had been taken away by their mother.
But now she’d been banished for touching dark magic, and she wouldn’t deprive her mate of the possibility of a child if he wanted one.
When Carwyn had enquired deeper about Valerie and how she’d found herself bonded to the ShadowHunter, Kier had explained how Faerydae had spoken from beyond this life to approve their very bond, meaning that even Mother would allow it.
Only Carwyn’s choice had truly been taken from her, but she could choose another path. Remove her curse, this forsaken gift she’d never asked for, and have what she wanted.
But I might lose him, and that hurts.
Kier’s arms tightened around her, and he gave the top of her head another sweet, soul-torturing nuzzle.
It hurts so much it feels like my heart has been consumed by dragon fire.